Tokarski Stands Tall as Galchenyuk's Goal Lifts Montreal

For each save the great Henrik Lundqvist made for the Rangers through the first two periods on Thursday, the 24-year-old unheralded rookie at the other end of the ice, Dustin Tokarski, made more than two for his Montreal Canadiens.

A playoff game that had been doused with hot sauce early had chilled into an icy goaltenders' duel at Madison Square Garden, with Tokarski turning away a barrage of shots while Lundqvist played coolly as usual.

And then it all melted down in the final four minutes of regulation, with Daniel Briere scoring for Montreal and Chris Kreider putting home a rebuttal for the Rangers with less than a minute left to force overtime. As is often the case with playoff hockey, the goals were quirky—both went in off defensemen's skates.

Once the game reached overtime, it didn't take long for Montreal to send the Garden crowd home unhappy: Alex Galchenyuk hurtled himself toward the net and beat Lundqvist with a goal off a rebound just 1 minute and 12 seconds into the period, dealing the Rangers a 3-2 overtime loss.

"We have to let it go," Lundqvist said of the defeat. "That's part of playing in the playoffs."

Tokarski, toppling one of the world's best goalies in just his second Stanley Cup playoff game and 12th NHL game overall, stopped 35 of 37 shots to trim the Rangers' lead in the Eastern Conference final to 2-1. Game 4 is Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Garden.

Brandon Prust, the former Rangers forward turned Montreal agitator, riled up the Rangers about three minutes into the game by flattening Rangers center Derek Stepan with an unpenalized, open-ice shoulder check that left Stepan flat on his stomach as play continued.

Stepan eventually clambered to his feet and was able to skate to the bench, but he made sure to look at Prust and let him know what he felt. Prust had said Kreider ran into Montreal starting goaltender Carey Price "accidentally on purpose" in Game 1, injuring his right knee and leaving him out for the series.

The Rangers felt they had a score to settle, and their agitator, Daniel Carcillo, took a run at Prust three minutes later, ramming him into the end boards and sparking a fight between Prust and Derek Dorsett, Carcillo's linemate and the Rangers' enforcer.

Fights in the playoffs are rare. It was the first fight for the Rangers since Brian Boyle mixed it up with Philadelphia's Adam Hall late in Game 6 of the first round.

Prust and Dorsett went to the penalty box, but Carcillo received a charging penalty and a game misconduct, apparently after an altercation with a linesman.

The Rangers killed the penalty, but Carcillo—the Rangers' counter to Prust—was gone, and Stepan missed five minutes of play. He plastered Montreal defenseman Alexei Emelin when he returned, and the crowd loved it. The Rangers continued to dominate in the Montreal zone.

They took a 1-0 lead at 15:18 of the first period as the result of a splendid individual play by their fastest skater, Carl Hagelin. He blocked a shot by Montreal defenseman P.K. Subban in the Rangers' zone, then chased down the loose puck.

Martin St. Louis joined him on a two-on-one, and Montreal defenseman Josh Gorges slowed down the play and blocked St. Louis's shot. The puck popped in the air, and Hagelin smacked it into the net for his fifth playoff goal.

Two minutes into the second period, the Rangers had a 17-4 edge in shots, but the Canadiens tied the score on a goal by the defenseman Andrei Markov, his first of the playoffs. A pass from Max Pacioretty skipped under Stepan, and Markov fired it past Lundqvist's glove.

"Maybe it should have been more than 1-0 after the first," Hagelin said.

The tie held up through the second period because Tokarski kept his team in the game, stopping 26 of the first 27 shots he faced and making his coach, Michel Therrien, look smart for using him again after the Rangers' 3-1 victory in Game 2 on Monday.

Peter Budaj, the Canadiens' backup goaltender, is no slouch. But Therrien decided to go with Tokarski. It paid off Thursday.

"We understand that with the loss of Carey Price we put the young kid in a tough spot," Therrien said of Tokarski after the Canadiens' morning skate Thursday. "But you look at his background, and he's a winner, and that was the No. 1 priority for us.

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